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I gave my second speech from the CC manual of Toastmasters on 26th October 2009. Here’s a copy of the speech as-i-delivered-it. Hope you enjoy it:

Project 2: Money is Honey

Just 5 days back, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded 76 grants of a million dollar each to public health researchers around the world. An “electronic nose” to detect tuberculosis, a new blood-stage malaria vaccine, and using ultrasound to determine the nature of infection of the mosquito-borne disease are among the projects that received grants from the Gates Foundation. This led me thinking. Wow. ! Money, a super power. Saving millions of lives by the constructive use of money.

Fellow toastmasters & honorable guests. Very Good Afternoon to all of you.

I have always viewed Money as a great power. Used constructively, it has the power to eradicate all the miseries of human race. Poverty, Education, Deadliest diseases, Hunger, and what not. Our own Silicon Valley is full of examples that show if used constructively how money has the power to create great companies & make life so much easier for all us.

On the flip side, money is a very dangerous tool. It has such a destructive power that nothing else can match on this planet. The Manhattan Project that created the Atomic bomb led to the nuclear attacks on the cities of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. The attacks resulted in wide destruction & killing of over 2 lakh people.

Few days back, I had my own brush with the destructive power of money. I went to market to buy fruits & vegetables. On my way, I met a banana seller. I asked him, how much did 12 bananas cost. He said 20 rupees. I went around buying other things & when I went back to banana seller & bought a dozen bananas, he charged me 25 rupees. I reminded him that he said 20 rupees & not 25. He started quarrelling with me. And suddenly, he took out his sword & attacked me. Just before the sword hit my neck, I woke up. Somebody was trying to kill me. For mere 5 rupees.

That was a dream i had few days back but when u open the newspaper, you actually see this happening in reality. People kill each other for 50 paisa. Not only this, newspaper is full of brides being burnt, being killed for money, family wars over money. People sell their daughters, wives for few thousand rupees.

Family wars. That reminds me of our own Ambani brothers. What a legend Dhirubhai Ambani was. And what the legends are both his sons. But what you saw few years back & what is unfolding in Supreme Court these days. Essentially, a family feud over Money.

Money has permeated the social fabric of our lives. Things like love, affection, respect have all been replaced by Money. Listen to this conversation I had with my aunt just a few days back when i visited Punjab for a close relative’s wedding. After the marriage was over, my aunt was sitting in the center of a bed with envelops filled with cash spread all around her. What she had in hand was a Register & a pen. Very religiously, she would open an envelope, count the cash in it down to a single rupee & make an entry in the register. I asked: “Aunty, what are you doing? Why are you writing this down in the notebook”. She replied: “Chetan, I am noting down the person’s name who gave this envelope & how much money he gave”. But why Aunty, I asked. Aunty replied: “So that, tomorrow, when anybody of these invites me, I know much to give back”. My head went down in shame. Do we measure today’s gift with how much cash a person gave rather than love, respect & affection.

People change their attitude depending on the how much money the person has.

Once Nizam of Hyderabad invited Mirza Ghalib to a series of Royal Mushaira. Ghalib reluctantly accepted the proposal and arrived at the Palace Gates. In his rundown clothes, he was turned away by the guards even though he introduced himself by telling his name and occupation. When his friend, Zauk came to know of this refusal, he offered his own elegant Sherwani to Mirza Ghalib for next day’s mushaira. Ghalib somehow squeezed himself into an ill fitting Sherwani and presented himself at the gates. This time he was allowed the passage. And in the mushaira Ghalib really won over Nizam’s heart with his moving and brilliant nazms. After the mushaira came the royal banquet. Ghalib was sitting bang opposite the Nizam. And Nizam observed that Ghalib instead of eating was taking the morsels to his Sherwani, then topi, then pyjamas. Nizam had an indication that Ghalib was an eccentric but what he was doing seemed downright idiotic. Nizam could not help asking Ghalib what was he upto? Trying to feed the clothes! Ghalib replied ‘exactly, because Ghalib never came. He came yesterday and was not allowed in. It were these clothes that got the permission to enter. So they deserve the food.

Money is important, but not everything. It’s good to have money but more than that required is the attitude to handle money. If you can succeed in this world, have all the wealth, have all the power in the world & still be humble, you have truly succeeded.

I gave my first speech from the CC manual of Toastmasters in mid July last year. Here’s a copy of the speech as-i-delivered-it. Hope you enjoy it:

Project 1: Ice Breaker

Mr. /Madam Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters & Honorable guests,

Good Afternoon,

This is my first speech, The Icebreaker. This is the speech where I will talk about myself. So let me introduce myself to all of you.

I am Chetandeep Singh. Is it true? Ok. I don’t know about it myself, but my parents gave me this name and everybody else calls me by this name. So I should say, my name is Chetandeep Singh. But since the objective of this speech is to introduce you to me and not to my name, let me try to introduce myself.

So, Who am I? Let us ponder over this question for sometime & try to find out, if we can.

In my present form, I began my journey on a tiny planet of a tiny solar system of a tiny galaxy of this incredibly huge Universe at some point of time which humans mark as October 1982 A.D. The significance of that seemingly insignificant moment of time is immense. I got a vehicle called “body” to survive in this world.

I grew up at a place called Jalandhar in Punjab. My parents were in a Government job. I am the younger of 2 sons. I did my schooling from Jalandhar. Did my B.Tech Comp Science from REC Jalandhar. Started my career with Aricent, moved on to Aperto Networks, & now at Cisco.

But why? Why I was born to parents to whom I was born? Why i was born in Jalandhar & not San Jose. Why did i study computer engineering and not economics even though I have a lot of interest in Finance & Economics? Why i am at Cisco & Why am i addressing you people today? And why only you & not even one more or one less. These are questions to which even I don’t have an answer. But more importantly, I want to introduce me to you.

I have enjoyed a privileged life. I didn’t have a Mercedes or a BMW when I was a kid. Nor do I have it today. But the very fact, that I can see, hear, smell, taste & speak make me feel privileged when I think of those who can’t. I don’t eat at the Leela’s or Taj’s or Oberio’s but the fact that I get to eat 3 meals a day make me feel satisfied when I think of those who sleep hungry. Why I am privileged & why many are underprivileged? These are questions to which even I don’t have an answer. But more importantly, I want to introduce me to you.

Two years ago, I bought a house in Bangalore but the mistress is yet to come. Buying a house left me in monetary debt for next 20 years. But there is a much bigger debt which I am trying to settle for past I don’t know how much time. That is the Karmic debt. Daily I do good things & bad things, creating & paying my Karmic Debt. When will God bestow his grace unto me & my Karmic Debt get over & when I will be free. These are questions to which even I don’t have an answer. But more importantly, I want to introduce me to you.

I have desires, goals & ambitions. I also want to be rich, travel abroad, have a successful career, a great family, and a big bungalow. But will these materialistic things give me inner satisfaction & happiness. I know the answer this time. But more importantly, I want to introduce me to you.

To introduce myself, I should know about myself. This is my limitation. The fact is that I am a work in progress & I am trying to discover myself. To give you a glimpse, I can say, I am a soul, who is on a journey on the path of evolution. I have changed many forms ranging from stones to plants to animals & now I am in a human form. I don’t know what the next one will be. But the future is full of hope. The wise men say, “Your reap what you sow”. I was never born & I will never die. I will only progress & discover myself in every form. And I am very hopeful. One day, I will be able to introduce myself.

Also, March 21 is World Forestry Day and International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

However, apart from these mundane facts, the importance of March 21st lies in the fact that this day is a Gift, a present to me. A baby was born on this day who is meant to occupy a big place in my life & my heart. A divine soul started her journey on this earth as a human. An Angel in her truest nature. My God bless her. !

March, Twenty Ten

I try to gift her on her b’day. I tried to send various gifts but all reached her before 21st. So she considers all these to be ‘pre b’day gifts’. Now what as b’day gift ? So, i decided to ‘Gift’ her ‘this post’ on her b’day. On March 21st. This post, written on a sleepy head but wrapped in love.

May you continue to spread Love all around you & I will personally ask God (he’s our common friend, you know) to shower his blessings on you & all those whose life you touch. !

Love,

-Cd.

P.S An interesting observation. She was born on the FIRST DAY of the astrological year & I was on FIRST DAY of October 🙂

Wow. ! Amazing. ! I am surprised to see the date of my last entry. 22nd Sept 2008. Crazy. What have been i been doing all this time? More importantly, where have I been? Well, the world has changed for me in past 1.5 years.

Let me recapitulate the happenings in my life (in no particular order) :-

1. You see in my previous blog entry that i bought Nokia E51. Well, that E51 is dead now & i upgraded to E71. Significant ? Not really. Ok that was just to make way for what is coming next.

2. In one of my previous posts, i vented against V-day (well, i did not vent but my fiancé says, it looks like venting). The irony is that I got engaged on 14th Feb twenty ten. And it was a chosen date. 🙂 Well, i guess, now i have a real reason to celebrate V-Day & not just give in to hype & hoopla. ! So you get the news, right… I got engaged. ! And now i am in the golden period of my life.

3. I hopped around & between 2008 & 2010, this is my third company. I work for Cisco Systems, one of the greatest companies in the world. Welcome to Human Network. !

4. I am a Toastmaster (www.toastmasters.org). And President at that. Well, yours truly is President, Cisco Vani Toastmasters club at Bangalore. Toastmasters has really been one of the best things that has happened to me in past 1 year. You will read more about my journey in Toastmasters (which has just begun) in the coming posts.

All in all, I feel, my life has taken many new turns in past 1.5 years. Cisco, Toastmasters, Engagement has put me on the highway of life. !

Finally I bought it. I was thinking about this one for quite some time now. Is that true ? Not really. I wasnt thinking about buying 1TB drive. But I was surely bothered by my data lying scattered at 4 different places ( 2 IDE’s, 1 mobile drive, my laptop, and pen drive). I was surely looking for a solution – storage solution.

Seagate 1 TB Classic Desktop Drive

I looked at

Western Digital – My book versions – some of them have RAID support too but were equally expensive.

Maxtor – One touch 4 plus – has a cool backup software.

Seagate – FreeAgent Pro – Firewire ports & Advanced backup software

Transcend – Portable 320 GB drive

Seagate – FreeAgent 1TB Classic Desktop drive.

I also considered NAS (Network Attached Storage) solutions but i guess those have to wait for now.

Finally i chose the product that offered maximum capacity and at a lowest price & that was Seagate FreeAgent 1TB Classic Desktop drive. It cost me a heavy 10,500 Rs.

But then these drives have a big big disadvantage. They are not so portable drives. And require external power for operation. To ward off against the power blues, i.e voltage fluctuations and electricity cuts, I bought an accessory to support my 1TB beast …. APC 500 KVA UPS.

Infact, APC is good looking and very smart. It has nice, neat and no nonsense looks + it has 2 separate sections Surge Protection & Battery plus Surge Protection. Also in the Surge Protection area, i do not need to switch the UPS ON and still it completes the circuit if anything is plugged into. That means I can plug in my computer based TV, Printer etc into the surge protection area and need not switch my UPS ON for these devices to work.

APC 500 KW UPS

I worked around 7 hours continously with the beast and it worked without generating any noise or heat.

Though the software that comes with the drive left a lot to be desired. It has backup option which is quite simple but is minimalistic to say the least. It doesnt backup hidden files & folders. No option to schedule a shutdown after the backup is complete. I am sure, as i use it more, i will find many more features that are missing in the software.

All in All, a good buy and a good experience & for the statisticians, my drive is 77% empty as of now. ! It should serve me a long time. ! Why not? TB is not a small denomination. !

All the following feature requires 3G/Wi-Fi/GPRS connection.
Fact 1: I have a Wi-Fi connection at home and office both.

1. I have installed Gmail client application. I can access my email/ write mails on the move.

2. Installed Google Maps. I can see all the maps and routes on my phone.

3. Fringe – !!! – This is a google talk client/ MSN and Skype rolled into one. With this I can make VOIP calls free of cost. i.e using my skype account on my phone. I can also talk over gtalk and text chat too with my friends – all this on the move.

4. World Mate application – It tells me time around different cities of the world. Converts currencies, gives me weather updates (voice based). Paid features includes updated flight informations.

11. The best of all – (i saved it till the end) – Virtual Radio – It allows me to hear Live Kirtan From Shri Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar – Live – all the time – on the move directly on my phone. !!! What better can i ask for.

There are 100’s of other features which I have still not used. I am still in the discovery mode. But it has been such a pleasurable journey.

Moreover, While using all the above, I have felt that this smartphone is just like a mini laptop in my hands. I have felt with so much of ease. It has never given a hint of problems while doing all of this. It has been superb.

And all of this, with just a cost of 11599 INR or 289$.

Nokia rocks… !

-CD>

– Well, the bad news is that I lost all the contacts in my previous phone. Kindly be generous to share your contact number(s) with me at chetandeep.singh@gmail.com

– (Please help me in my discovery by telling me more applications/resources which I can use on my phone). The comments/suggestions are most welcome.

Test for admission (not the sole entry criterion i.e scores of CAT AND GMAT also work) to PGSEM course by IIMB was held this sunday i.e 2nd March 2008.

Around 1000 young and old experienced geeks had thronged Christ College, Hosur Road, Bangalore on a relatively bright morning with a lot of less traffic on the roads well known for chaotic traffic.

Test started at 10:00 instead of scheduled 9:30. And it had 2 parts. We were all accustomed to 1 part exam but this time it had a surprise element… 1/2 hour Subjective type Case analysis question… Now how’s that… !

10:00 to 12:00 was a usual objective type test divided into 3 sections having 115 questions in all.

Overall difficulty level for the whole test was quite less as compared to CAT (like CAT 2005,2006,2007). Infact it was no where near the CAT level. English was a bit tough but still far away from CAT. DI and Quant were miles miles away from CAT difficulty level.

Infact, it closely emulated the sample test paper sent by PGSEM 2 days before the test in terms of difficulty level.

But, this doesn’t mean what the pattern /difficulty level of future PGSEM’s will be. It may be as tough as CAT next year or may not be.

Sectional Details:

Section 1: English

This was the first RC:
“”
The moving parts inside your cells
World’s smallest motors, springs and ratchets propel the engines of life
By Kathleen Wren
Sciencehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077512/
“”

Now questions were like this:
How many athletes are such that weight is at max 80, height is at max 150 etc etc.
Which athlete has height less than 150, weight more than 80… etc etc

2nd set was similar just that it had different type of foods (corn flakes, raisin flakes etc etc) and parameters like fat, sugar, calories etc etc and the questions were similar to the first set.

2 LR sets were there.

One was a usual set like ABCDE r 5 friends, they do a job of XYZPQ, one more parameter GHIJK. Lot of conditions were given, we had to identify the correct pairs in these 3 sets.

2nd was similar but a tad difficult. Again 5 friends were there, they took diff exam, like JEE, CET-M, etc… and they got some ranks. We had to find out who gave what based on the given conditions.

One set was based on Set theory.

Another set, we had mobile phone SP’s subscription level in different circles. Find out the growth rates etc.

One more set was there. Don’t remember it. It has a DI based set had a table mentioning lot of data.

Section 3: Quant:

First 20 questions were 1 markers. Next 5 questions were 2 markers.

1 markers:

1. An equation in log x was given. To find the solution for x.
2. A does work in 4 days, B in 5 days etc.. When will the work get finished.
3. Tea A price is x/kg, B is y/kg. Sold on z/kg and a profit of 10% is made. Ratio had to be found out.
4. 10 persons ran in a race. In how many ways first 3 places can be took.
5. 3 equations in 3 variables were given. Had to find out whether it is case of infinite solution, no solution…
6. M is a point of intersection of a pair of lines, N is a point of intersection of another pair of lines. Had to find a new line equation for MN.
7. A gemstone of Rs 81000 broke in ratio 2:3:4. Find the loss of worth of gemstone.
8. Average weight of class of 20 students is 50. A student is replaced and average weight now is 50.25. Find the weight of new student.
9. A circle is cut out from square. Find out the loss in area.
10. 3 digit number when reversed is reduced by 297. one more condition was there. had to find out the middle number.
11. A book uses 1890 digits in printing the page numbers. find the pages of the book.

There were more questions of the similar difficulty level.

2 markers:
2 questions were function based. One was very easy other was a bit tricky.
1 question was based on area of rectangle and triangle.
1 was a magic square based question. One number was missing. sum of all rows, columns and diagonals is same. find the missing number.
1 was AP series question of +ve integers. sum of 10 terms is = the 58th term. find the smallest ‘a’.

Part 2 – subjective type case analysis.

It was 30 mins written test.

The case I got was:

Tata Nano has been recently launched. Ms Sunita Narain, Director of Centre for Science and Environment has raised some concerns over the concessions given to Tata’s in terms of cheap land, interest free captial, one time tax on car owner, infrastructure development and traffic control.

More small cars by other manufacturers are also expected.

This would add to congestion and pollution. Public transport will get a hit.

Write in max 250 words each to address the concern of Ms Sunita Narain if you were,
1. An advisor to Tata’s
2. A policy maker of India.

Hope this description of the test help the future generations, as when I was searching for the pattern/type of questions, I didn’t get them.

ah… ! another V’day arrives. How is it different from the previous ones… or how it will be different from the coming ones….. one difference which is quite apparent is that it was not as commercialized as it is now and it will be even more commercialized in the coming years.

On an Economic front, Valentines day is a huge success and a boost to the economy… It falls under the category of “non essential” purchases. and the most consumers are young. As they say ” Tap into them now(young), and u capture their lifestyles for entire life… non essential purchases sometimes riding on bad credit… can lead economy into a plunge… but thats not the point here…

…but on the social/cultural front, it’s a disaster. Well, I am not a fundamentalist beating the drums of ‘Indian Culture spoiled by West’. But the point is different here.

Okay, The Idea… (Ideas are bulletproof… as V in Vendetta said)… “Love is a verb and not a noun”. Love and hence the act of showing love is based on actions and not on saying “I Love You” with a red rose in a perfect ambience.

Love is a feeling which can be and has to be expressed through out the year and not on a particular date. Why wait for 14th Feb to come and then in some sort of style express ur love.

The V day we celebrate is a overly marketed concept. It is based on hype, false notions, a concept well sold by companies to love deprived consumers.

In fact, Love is God. Love is a quality, feeling and emotion which is equivalent to God as God is nothing but an unconditional love. “Love thy neighbour (especially if she’s a girl :-), Love thy enemy and so on… and but a Truth…

Love is universal. No bars of caste, religion, age, gender… do we see this love flowing. No. Countries go to war, people suffer. There are millions of people marred by poverty, childern by malnutrition and million other ailments. All they need is our love. Through actions and not words. And not on V day but all around the year and years to come.

It’s not that if I had been on the other side of the fence (i.e had a girlfriend), i wudnt have these thoughts. I still wud have stood my ground but celebrate V day in some other way, If i had too….. That still can be done.. like the munna does in MunnaBhai MBBS by hugging a sweeper in the college.

In this age of ultra modernationisation, we have forgotten how to love (except on V day). We are having big bungalows (okay, say posh apartments), big cars, all kind of gadgets, but we donot speak to our neighbour, or friend because he once spoke rudely to me… Is this love or arrogance? Is this humility (the greatest of all virtues)? This is false ego, based on false notions and false love.

Love should be unconditional.. like “I love because I love you. There is no reason required to love”. and under whatsoever circumstances just like God who loves us under any condition.

As an uncle told me a quote… “Agar tu mujhe paana chahta he to mere bando se pyar kar…If you(human) want to achieve me(God), the only way is… love humankind”…

The true achievement on V day wud be when we shun our arrogance, false egos and love all the humans irrespective of the social status. And love not thru words but by actions.

Disclaimer: I donot ‘hate’ V day.. as it wud be against ‘Love’ and the spirit of Love.. Infact, I enjoy the mood although artificial created by the people around me.

Tests are over and the controversy too has ended. But the end to the battle off-field has been really tame. The whole thing has been reduced to the muscle power of money and power. Well, it’s good for all that the racist banner has been lifted off Bhajji but I am not convinced by the way it has ended.

The whole thing has been settled by:

1. Bhajji denying completely saying the Monkey and instead agreeing that he said “Teri Maa Ki”.

2. Symonds not remembering the exact words that Bhajji said.

3. Bindra going to watch the last test match and holding talks with CA to sort out matters.

4. Sachin and Ponting writing to the judge, urging him to reduce Harbhajan’s charges to that of using offensive language.

Why this “Teri Maa Ki” thing came only in this hearing. Why it was not brought up in the first hearing itself. Why did Bhajji had to go thru the charges and the ban and then admitting that he said “Teri Maa Ki”.

Earlier, Bhajji had maintained a stand that he said nothing of the sort. But now what started as the internet joke reached them, this has been brought up as the main defence. I bet to anyone of the foreign language “Maa Ki” and “Monkey” wud sound pretty similar…

2. He didn’t say “Maa Ki” but “Monkey” because he didnt claim it in the first hearing.

and Moreover, if he wud have said “Maa Ki”, he wud have said “Teri Maa Di” and not “Teri Maa Ki”, because he’s punjab ka puttar and no self respecting punjabi wud abuse in any other language than Punjabi… ! It’s just because be it a person of any origin/nationality, whatever language he may speak, but while abusing… since it is instinctive..comes naturally in the mother tongue…

Well, I hold nothing against anyone.. but just logically speculating and guessing that what exactly did Bhajji say?

Coming to the Racism…I dont know what the term “Racist” means but Indian system is well known for their Caste System, Quota Reservations and lot more social stigmas…

Anyway, All well that ends well. It has certainly ended in good for all especially Bhajji, BCCI, CA and ICC. What about “Justice or Truth or Morals or Ethics”.. well, that is an endless debate especially considering that Aussies are the Masters of this game… sledging… no, Cricket I mean… !!!

Disclaimer: This piece of writing is not intended to hurts any body’s sentiments. The author apologizes in advance for any such eventuality.

There are a lot of topics i would like to talk about in the coming days/months. They range from trivial to abstract issues.

For eg: “Application”, “Humility”, “Inequality”, “WiMax” , “Traffic” and more

So i would start by “Application” since this can turn out to be pretty abstract and i hope some abstract ideas don’t slip away.

Theory or Application. Which is more important? I think its similar to religion or science question because without theory there is no application and without application there is no usefulness of theory. Hence Application can be defined as “A theory put to use”.

The word “Application” has various connotations.

1. Application as in Computer applications or in today’s era Mobile Applications. These kind of applications are “enablers” for a particular technology. These act as an interface between user, who benefits by the technology, and the technology. So applications are “enablers”.

3. Science has made progress in numerous fields like medicine, technology, space etc. These are all the results of Applications of a particular theory. And these applications in turn transform the lives of billions of people and humankind in general.

4. Application are the manifestations of intentions. I have an intent to do something, like taking a leave as in good old school days, i had to write an application. I have to get a phone connection, I give an application. So the blueprint in my mind, is translated into the reality through application. Still, “Enablers” of a different sort.

5. Applications as “enablers” of skills. Skills such as technical, or soft. To accomplish a task, we need to apply certain skills in a certain way.

6. Importance of Application in Cricket. The batsman has to “apply” himself in the middle, only then he get runs. Talent and ability is one thing but commiting to a cause and applying is equally important. Thats what we call ‘Attitude determines Altitude”.

Application requires a lot of intent, desire, passion, willingness, hunger, courage and most important of all self-discipline. Be it cricket, technology, or daily life, these characteristics are required for an application to be successful.

How to successfully apply or the application as in any of the above connotations, one needs to learn/develop certain skills (theory part). For eg, To be a successful manager you ought to apply certain skills in your daily interactions. So either you learn those skills, or develop the skills by experience.